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(No Model.)

B. O. ATKINS. ART OF MANUFACTURING SOAP.

No. 339,727. Patented Apr. 13, 1886.

iln'rrnn STATES PATENT Orricn.

ELIAS O. ATKINS, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

ART OF MANUFACTURING SOAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,727, dated April 13, 1886.

Application filed December 29, 1885. Serial No. 186,977. (No model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELIAS G. ATKINS, of the city of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Manufacturing Soap, of which the following is a specification.

As is well known, the various ingredients of which soap is composed must during the manufacture thereof. be thoroughly mixed, and it is during this mixing that chemical reaction takes place, by which the various ingredients are converted into soap. It is manifest that anything which will aid or hasten this chemical reaction will be an advantage to the art of soap-making, and I have discovered by experiment that a current of electricity forced through the ingredients during the mixing facilitates and hastens this process, and, indeed, produces, in addition, a different and better result.

My said invention therefore consists in the utilization of a current of electricity in the manufacture of soap.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a top or plan view of avat or kettle used in manufacturing soap, and a dynamo-electric machine connected thereto in the manner in which I have employed it in carrying out my invention; Fig. 2, a vertical sectional view on the dotted line 2 2 in Figs. 1 and 3; Fig. 3,21. vertical sectional view on the dotted line3 3 in Figs. 1 and 2, and Fig. 4: a side elevation of an electrode and the frame therefor which I have employed separately.

In said drawings, the portions marked A represent the soap kettle or vat; B, the dynamo-electric machine, and 0 an insulated electrode located in the vat.

The soap kettle or vat A is or may be any vat suitable for the manufacture of soap. The oneshown has a central cylinder, A, mounted therein, and inside of said central cylinder is a screwshaped stirrer, A", which is driven through bevel gear-wheels a a from a horizontal shaft, A mounted in a suitable framework above the vat. The outer walls of this vat are shown double, and steam is preferably introduced into the open space between the two walls toheat the ingredients in the vet tial.

The electrode 0 is shown as consistin of 6 three carbon plates mountedin a wooden frame, 0, and connected by a metal cross-strip, c, to one end of the metal strip 0, running out above the top of theframe, to which latter one of the wires from the dynamo or battery is connected. The frame-work of the electrode is shown as firmly braced to the inner cylinder of the soapvat by braces a.

The operation of my said invention is as follows: The vat being charged with the proper ingredients, one of the wires, 1), from the dynamo or battery is connected to said vat at some portion, (it is shown as connected to the inside cylinder, A,) and the other is connected to the electrode (3. The course of the current, by preference, is over the wire I) to the vat, whence it distributes itself throughout every part of the same, (said vat usually being of iron,) and then passes through the ingredients in said vat to the electrode 0 and back to the machine or battery. By this means the ingredients are continually being subjected to the action of the current of electricity, which, as hereinbefore stated, aids and hastens chemical reaction and produces a difl'erent and better result than that which is produced by the ordinary mixing alone, while the time of treating a batch of soap is materially lessened.

I do not regard it as essential to my invention to particularly limit the strength of the electric current or the time which it shall be employed, as this depends somewhat upon the character of the soap which is being produced and the size and character of the vessel, as well as the rapidity of the operation of the mixer. These details, therefore, must be governed by circumstances, and no fixed and definite rule can be laid down. The vat which I have employed is of about one hundred gallons capacity, and the dynamo-electric machine which I have in use produces about fil'ty volts of electro-motive force, which I have kept in use upon each batch of soap for about thirty minutes, and this will serve as a basis upon which to calculate what is requisite in other cases. I may also say that I do not regard it as essential that the current should be driven through the ingredients in the manner which I have specified, as the current may be carried first to the electrode 0, thence through the ingredients to the vat or vessel, and thence back to the machine; or the arrangement may be such as to produce induced electricity; but I regard the arrangement shown and described as preferable.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. That improvement in the art of manufacturing soap which consists in applying to and forcing through the ingredients while the soap is in process of being manufactured a current of electricity.

2. The combination, with a soap vat or receptacle, of an insulated electrode suspended therein, an electric machine or battery, and wires running from said machine or battery, one to said vat or receptacle and the other to said electrode, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a soap vat or receptacle, a mixer therein, an insulated electrode also therein, an electric machine or battery, and wires connecting said vat or vessel and said electrode to said machine or battery, whereby during the process of mixing the ingredients in said vat or vessel a current of electricity is also forced through the said ingredients, substantially as described, and for the purposes specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 26th day of December, A. D. 1885.

O. BRADFORD, CHARLES L. THURBER. 

